Test how fast your soil drains

A simple hole-and-hose test tells you whether water can soak into your yard, and which fix will actually work.

Difficulty: Easy
Time: About a day, mostly waiting
Fixes: A soggy lawn, or deciding between a dry well, a rain garden and piping the water away
You'll need: 4 tools

Step by step

Dig a test hole. About 12 inches wide and 12 to 18 inches deep, in the area you want to fix.
Soak it. Fill the hole with water and let it drain completely. This wets the soil so the test is accurate. If it’s still full the next day, that’s your answer: very slow drainage.
Fill it again. Refill the hole and push a stick into the bottom so you can mark the water level.
Measure every hour. Note how far the water level drops each hour.

These are rules of thumb, not engineering:

1 inch or more per hour: water can soak in, so a dry well or rain garden may work.
Under 1 inch per hour: slow, usually clay. Plan to pipe the water away instead of soaking it in.
More than 6 inches per hour: very fast, sandy soil. Drainage is rarely the problem here; look for where the water is coming from.

Fixes: Soggy spots, standing water, water running toward the house

Fixes: Water pooling by the house, damp basement walls, washed-out beds under the gutters

Fixes: Water against the foundation, damp basement walls, puddles next to the house

Rather not spend the weekend in a trench? We can take it from here.